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      The New Drug Development (NDD) division of MBC focuses primarily on clinical stage drug development projects, of which MBC owns the rights for commercialization. This division has substantial experience and track records in the development of new therapeutics, particularly in the area of oncology and liver diseases. The NDD team is well positioned with professionals in medicine, life sciences, pharmacology, biometrics and regulatory affairs. This composition assures that each project in the pipeline is efficiently monitored in house side-by-side with the designated CRO for optimal quality. Due to MBC’s strength in protocol design, site selection, study conduction and monitoring, and global regulatory submission, MBC is able to translate and validate innovative drug candidates into therapeutic opportunities for marketing authorization, thus unlocking the value of the projects within the pipeline.

      In June 2010, MBC licensed the global commercialization rights of PI-88 from Progen Pharmaceuticals of Australia, with whom MBC has had a decade long collaboration history. PI-88 has both anti-heparanase and anti-FGFs effects, and thus is able to exert dual-effect, namely anti-metastasis and anti-angiogenesis for cancer treatment. The phase II study demonstrated that PI-88 has good safety profiles and a promising effect in reducing tumor recurrence after surgical resection of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The phase II trial results were published in Journal of Hepatology (2009). The phase III (PATRON) study has integrated key findings of the phase II trial and is randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled in design. The PATRON phase III protocol has received official approval by the TFDA (Taiwan FDA), and is pursuing further approval in China, Korea, Hong Kong and several Western countries. Active recruitment of study subjects is expected soon.

      Telomelysin (OBP-301) is a novel oncolytic virotherapy for head and neck cancers and HCC treatment. In collaboration with Oncolys BioPharma of Japan, MBC’s joint project to validate the efficacy of Telomelysin for treating various cancers is among MBC’s development pipeline. OBP-301 has shown a good safety profile in the phase I study conducted in USA. Currently, MBC has received the green-light from the USFDA and the Taiwan FDA for a phase I/II study of intra-tumoral injection of OBP-301 for locally advanced HCC (a mid-stage liver cancer). 


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      With a mission of providing total solutions to liver cancer victims, MBC’s NDD pipeline comprises several clinical and pre-clinical projects for cancer therapeutics. MBC is positioned to bridge the East with the West, and to present new therapies for unmet medical needs in the Asia-Pacific region. The NDD is one of the armamentariums of MBC’s mission to bring health to mankind via “innovations for a better life”.